Jesus prayed in John 17

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

Here, Jesus was praying for the ones who would believe in Him for generations to come.

That means He was praying for you and me.  I love how He yearned that a believer would be one with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit just as Jesus was one with the Father.   In other words, Jesus prayed that we would know what real fellowship with God unhindered and wide open is.

We know His prayer was answered because Jesus gave His life at the cross to ensure it would be.  Jesus prayed earnestly, knowing it would require Him to lay down His life to see that prayer answered.  That is what He means when He is praying I in them and You in me.

What is the goal?  That we might be made perfect in one!  That we might be brought into close fellowship with God.

Why was this so important?  So that the world would know that the Father had sent Jesus.  Religious intellectualism will never reveal to the world that the Father sent Jesus and that Jesus loved us as the Father loves Him.  Only active, living, and close fellowship with God proves that the Father sent Jesus and that Jesus loves us as the Father loves Jesus.

At the heart of glory is a fellowship deep and rich in love.  Jesus wants us to be where he is so that we can behold the glory He had been given—a glory bathed in the reality of having been deeply loved from before the foundation of the world.

This, too, is fulfilled in Ephesians 1

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Again it says in Ephesians 3

To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

This is glory!  The glory of Jesus is shrouded in the love the Father gives Him and has had for Him from before the foundation of the world.  In Christ, we are invited to walk in the glory that close fellowship with the Father produces.  We are to know the love of Christ and walk in the fullness of God as a result of knowing it.  This is glory expressed on earth!

I encourage you to be convinced of His great love for you.  The cross is proof of it.  Stand in confidence today, knowing how deeply and completely Jesus loves you.